A day in the life of the Gibson Family...
Living with Chronic Migraine Disease and Other Daily Trials

Apr 2, 2010

Migraine Abortive Leads to Chest Pain

Wednesday, March 31, 2010
7 PM

We had just finished dinner. I took my migraine abortive (treximet) and dramamine for the nausea. Within 15 minutes I felt like my chest was being crushed and I had a burning sensation up the back of my neck.

I quickly called my pharmacist, (thanks Sherry) who talked to me and looked up side effects. This wasn't listed as a typical side effect and furthermore I had taken the same combo on 5 previous occasions with NO problem.

Sherry advised me to call 'Ask First' a well staffed division of the hospital. I called and within 2-3 minutes a nurse was on the line going through my symptoms. She advised me to get to the ER immediately

ER: it seemed like hurry up and wait. The ER was BUSY
EKG: looks good
Blood Work : looks good
Chest X-Rays: look good
Urine Sample: You have a UTI, iv antibiotic

I finally saw the ER doctor and he decided that because of (a) my symptoms & (b) my high risk factor, they would need to keep and observe me for about 24 hours. At this point the diagnosis was angina.

David and the kids left around 11 pm, very concerned and tired. None of them got much sleep.

I finally got moved to a room on the cardiac unit around 1am. Can I have a snack?, Well you're NPO for tomorrow but I'll move your test back a bit and bring you a sandwich. Cindy brought me a huge turkey sandwich, baked Lays chips and a diet Sprite. I only ate 1/2 the sandwich.

More blood drawn, a second iv antibiotic, a breathing treatment, hook me up to CPAP, nothing on t.v., nothing to read except the phonebook, no Gideon Bible.

Finally fell asleep around 3, only to be semi disturbed around 4 am for another blood draw (she was GOOD, I didn't even feel it) and vitals.

I woke on my own at 8 am. tried to wash up without disturbing all the wires hooked to the monitor. I think I forgot it was on because it was a wireless feed to the nurses station. All my walking around and washing up made the heart monitor gives some unusual readings. Of course this concerned my nurse. She was relieved to know I had just been brushing my teeth.

Then off to more tests. 1st a CT scan of my chest, then a chemical stress test, yuck, then another CT.

At some point in all of this I complained about more chest pain and was given nitroglycerin. Not a fun med to take. It felt like acid under my tongue, then it caused my headache to get worse. (The same headache that I had taken treximat to treat the previous evening.)

I also had a nice chat with a hospital pharmacist, trying to verify what pain meds I could tolerate.

Finally able to eat around 2pm. Hospital food never tasted so good! (it really was good) And get my morning meds and a pain pill for my headache. Oh great now I'll be asleep when my family arrives. (I wasn't asleep)

Call David and tell him I'm finally able to have them come visit. At some point before David & the kiddos arived I saw my 5th doctor in less than 24 hours.

Dr. Morrow brought good news. It was not my heart. It was caused by the treximet and I could NEVER have another drug in the triptan class again.

Cindy, my nurse came in around 330 or so to tell me I was being discharged and she had a lot of paperwork to go over with me. That done, I was finally able to wash up again, and get dressed.

David and Daniel went to bring the car around and we headed home.

By the time we got home it was 5pm or a bit after and we still needed to eat supper, pick up 3 new prescriptions and change to go to church.

We made it to church for Maundy Thursday and considering all we had been through in the previous 24 hours, I think the service was sweeter to us than ever.

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About Me

I'm a retired homeschooling Mom of 2.
wife to David, striving to follow Christ in all that I do. We raised a young man and a young lady and are excited to see where God leads them as they go out into the world. We are searching continually for like-minded believers to fellowship with.